A loud piercing scream was all Kai heard. He blocked his ears while he shut his mouth tightly and stopped breathing in.
Once the smoke cleared up, the sound disappeared. Only to be replaced by the chattering of the surrounding villagers.
Kai gulped and kept his head down. Trying to walk through the crowd, his breathing getting heavier while sweat dripped down his forehead.
He suddenly felt a hand grasped onto his shoulders.
A young man in his thirties, smiling as he opened his mouth to ask a question.
But Kai blocked it out. All he could focus on was the hand on his shoulders, he shoved it off and walked quickly.
He could hear them. Their insults on his unsightly behavior.
Kai saw Claude standing in the middle of the circle of commotion. But no one came up to help him.
That was a given, considering Claude's violence and aggressive behavior. Throwing and kicking at things while he yelled and scolded at the villagers for staring at him.
But it was unusual. His speech didn't seem to match the current situation, in fact, it seemed more grave. As if he had lost something important forever.
"Claude Argenetia." Kai said, looking at the remains of the house. It had all burnt down, only leaving behind scraps.
Claude's ears perked up at the sound of his name. But his eyes were wild, like an animal. He turned back around and dug up the scorching hot concrete. As if searching for something.
Remembering something he had grabbed off the shelves earlier, Kai put one hand in his pocket and shuffled it around. Taking out a pair of black latex gloves. He slid it on.
"Claude." Kai said, trying to get the person's attention again. But it didn't seem to work.
Instead, Claude started crying hysterically.
This riled up the villagers even more. And the sound and their presence didn't help in any way.
Kai took in deep breaths and looked at his shaking hands. He couldn't afford to stay here any longer. Not with this many eyes on him.
He quickly grabbed ahold of Claude's arm and attempted to pull him away from the concrete and back on his feet.
"GET OFF OF ME! LET ME GO!" Claude yelled at the top of his lungs. He struggled and didn't budge an inch. "Please..my mum and dad are still inside the fire." He begged, quieter now.
Kai looked at Claude and glanced away. He quickly held his hands straight down and flat, jabbing it right onto Claude's neck.
Claude went silent as his eyes slowly closed and his body sagged to the ground. His whole body lost feeling as his vision flickered and muddled with the past and reality. Now all he saw was an unfamiliar face.
Slowly picking Claude up, Kai felt his hands shaking. Not because Claude was heavy or beyond the weight he could carry. His arm felt itchy and so did his hands. Even if there was no skin to skin contact. It still felt irritating.
Kai didn't glance back and walked past the chaos and more people who were beginning to gather here. He pushed himself through the crowd.
He felt as if he was going to retch out everything. It felt horrible. He picked up the pace and ran towards Mr Walton's house.
When he finally reached the house, he kicked the cardboard box and crawled through the window. He breathed heavily as he threw Claude down on a bed in one of the rooms.
Kai shakily balanced himself as he went to the sink at the kitchen counter and took off his gloves and pulled up his sleeves. Washing it with soap and water multiple times until he had lost count.
He dried off the water with towels multiple times.
It was only until then he was satisfied. He slumped on the chair and leaned his head back. He laid there until he heard a distant footstep from the room closing in on him.
"Where's grandma? Luar? Mr Walton?" A voice croaked. "Where?!"
"I don't know." Kai replied solemnly, his eyes still closed with his hands covering his face.
"The house..is it gone? Again?" Claude asked, looking outside the broken window but not seeing anything outside that peaked his interest.
"It got burnt when they teleported."
"Goddammit." Claude murmured under his breath. "Are you..going to stay and help me even though you finished your favor already?" He remembered what Mr Walton had mentioned about Kai.
Kai sat up properly and combed his fingers through his hair. While looking at the floor and Claude. "I was going to."
Something inside Claude made a loud cracking sound. He wasn't going to go alone, was he? He hated being alone. Even if it was with this kid, he was fine with it.
"But I realized. I need another favor that the lady just now could fulfill." Kai recalled. His eyes and memory never failed him. She might not remember him but he did. She was quite the important character.
Claude heaved a sigh of relief. "Do you have a map anywhere? And if I'm..correct, I think I know where that woman lives." He said slowly, trying to keep that woman's face locked in his memories while he searched for a clue.
Frowning, Kai looked around. "Mr Walton doesn't keep maps around." He stated.
"In the capital. The central. Somewhere around there is that lady's estate." Claude quickly said, hoping it'll give his memory a refresh. The place was somewhat near a church and Minerva Academy if he could recall properly.
Seeing Claude struggle, Kai sighed and stood up. He walked into the workshop zone and dug deep into the cabinets. Pulling out a pencil, an eraser and a large scrap of paper.
"What are you doing?" Claude asked, with one eyebrow raised. He watched as Kai sharpened the pencil and opened up the piece of rolled up paper. He had half expected something to be written there but it was as empty as a paper one could find at a stationary store.
"Central. Capital. What else do you know? Like popular landmarks?" Kai asked, focused as he tied up his hair and began. He drew an odd outline. It wasn't a particular shape but it seemed like he wasn't drawing at random.
"It was within walking distance from Minerva Academy. And..a church."
"Got it." Kai traced a long line.
"A church building with wings as it's pillars."
"The main church." He wrote.
"A large well with water while the bottom was filled with gold."
"That is near an adventurer's guild building." Kai easily identified, writing in another square.
By the end of all of Claude's little annotations. Kai was left with two large pieces of paper. And multiple scrunched up balls of paper.
One with a weird particular shape with landmarks and symbols. While the other was almost like a portrait in black and white.
It was a precise drawing of a certain district in the capital. With everything Claude said included within. He didn't miss any piece of information.
Only after Kai was done, Claude realized what the madman had done.
He had drawn a complete map of the capital with all it's major buildings and landmarks. It was good enough to be used as a map even. Things were evenly lined out and named.
The other scrap of paper was even scarier. It was almost like a photograph taken in black and white using a magic stone. And the buildings didn't just consist of its shape. It was drawn perfectly without missing any bit of details at all.
"Giovanni District." Kai immediately wrote at the bottom right corner of the street drawing.
"What?" Claude spat out in shock. Snatching the paper away as his eyes shone. How could someone..have this sort of memory?
Everything completely resembled what he built in Claude's mind. And Kai even filled in the missing parts he couldn't make up.
"You're..crazy." Claude said with a smile. "Thank you."
Kai nodded and put down the pencil and took out a bag from the storage room. "When would you like to leave?"
"Now. I cannot afford to wait any longer."